Documentation

3. Setting Up Usage Fees & Tiered Rate Rules by User Group

Automate Tiered Pricing, Peak Rates, and Member Discounts Across Any Facility

The Scenario

Charging a flat rate for resources rarely fits real-world operations. Whether you're a research core facility billing internal departments versus external industry clients, a coworking space managing multi-tier member pricing, a makerspace setting workshop rates, or a media studio offering volume discounts on equipment loans, pricing needs to adapt to who is booking. This setup automates custom rate structures by mapping pricing tiers, peak/off-peak schedules, and duration discounts directly to user groups, ensuring accurate invoicing with zero manual adjustment.

🔬 Research Labs & Core Facilities (Primary Example)

  • Example: Charge tiered hourly rates based on institutional affiliation—such as internal university researchers, affiliated hospital staff, or external commercial partners.

🏢 Coworking Spaces & Facility Management

  • Example: Apply different hourly or daily rates based on membership tiers (e.g., Hot Desk Member vs. Dedicated Suite Member), or set peak weekend pricing for event space rentals.

🛠️ Makerspaces & Machine Shops

  • Example: Offer discounted machine time (e.g., laser cutters, CNC mills) for student or community-tier members while applying full rates to commercial users.

🎙️ Media & Production Studios

  • Example: Tier studio room rates by membership status (internal students vs. public clients) and automatically apply duration-based discounts (e.g., multi-week equipment loan discounts).

QReserve Subscription: Core
Implementation Difficulty: Beginner

Implementation Steps

    1. Define User Groups: Navigate to Administration → Users → User Groups and create groups for your different pricing tiers (e.g., Internal, Student, Commercial).
      ⚡Pro Tip: Add a prefix like 'Rates: ' to these group names to keep your list organized.
    2. Configure Rate Schedules: Navigate to Administration → Resources → [Select Resource] → Reservations → Rates and create your various rates (e.g., Academic, Commercial).
    3. Assign Rates to Groups: Link each User Group to its corresponding rate schedule. Define your billing metrics (e.g., hourly, flat-rate, or per-unit).
    4. Advanced Rate Logic: In the expanded rate view, you can:
      • Enforce account number requirements for specific schedules.
      • Use 'Edit Rate Time Options' to automate price shifts based on duration or time of day.
    6. Billing Account Configuration: Choose between allowing manual entry of account numbers or requiring users to select from a pre-vetted list of stored accounts.
    7. Manage Stored Accounts: Navigate to Administration → Users → [User] → Identifiers and Records → Stored Account Numbers + to define account details and expiration dates.
    8. Enforce Stored Selections: To require selection from vetted accounts, enable the toggle at Administration → Site Settings → Reservations → Reservation Options → Force Users to Select From Stored Account Numbers.

📖 Learn more about Rates

🎬 [ ▶ Watch: Watch: Setting Up Usage Fees & Group Pricing Rules]:
In this video guide, we demonstrate setting up tiered usage fees for a research core facility. However, the exact same rate rules apply to setting member vs. non-member pricing in a coworking space, building peak weekend rates for event venues, managing tier discounts in a makerspace, or configuring multi-week equipment loan discounts for a media studio.